Read about the latest political news, views and analysis
When Kwasi Kwarteng stood up to deliver his mini-Budget last month, the assumption by the government was that the markets would jump for joy over its growth strategy. Less than three weeks later, the Bank of England is staging its third intervention to keep the UK’s bond market afloat, warning this morning of ‘material risk’ to the UK’s financial stability if markets don’t calm down soon.
As Russia continues to get routed in eastern Ukraine – losing territory, machinery and personnel to an emboldened Ukrainian counteroffensive – infighting has intensified in the Kremlin. Looking for someone to blame, the various factions are increasingly attacking Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and his Ministry, and seeking an escalation of hostilities in Ukraine. When Russia lost the town of Lyman less than 24 hours after illegally annexing four regions that included it, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov called for a tactical nuclear strike on Ukraine. He also lashed out against the General Staff, and threatened to send Central Military District Commander Alexander Lapin to the front to 'cleanse his shame in blood'.
Which toilet should a trans pupil be allowed to use? Teachers like me have enough on our plates with the day job, but we must also face questions like this. Whatever our answer, we are bound to annoy someone. Yet for too long, ministers have shied away from offering a helping hand in this toxic debate. Unfortunately, it looks as though Liz Truss's government is going to continue that unhelpful approach. Schools are in desperate need of clear guidance for helping include transgender pupils without compromising the rights of others. Activist groups have held sway for too long, and – as a teacher – it was a relief to hear the Department for Education had called on both the Equality and Human Rights Commission and doctors to produce an 'evidence-based guide'.
‘Grow the pie’. Somebody thought ‘grow the pie’ was The Thing, that ‘grow the pie’ was it. That this knockout phrase would silence the army of doubters and bring millions of voters back on side. They were proud of ‘grow the pie’. They thought ‘grow the pie’ was a great idea that people can really relate to and get behind. The same kind of person who thought reviving The Generation Game with Mel and Sue, or that Crown paint advert with the dead-eyed cult singing about ‘Hannah and Dave’ were notions of genius. Grow the pie – biff bang pow, now what’s your comeback to that, eh? Did they test it out on anyone else before Liz Truss’s speech at Tory party conference?
Since the beginning of the Ukraine war and the sanctions it triggered, energy prices have skyrocketed. Liz Truss has warned that soaring energy bills are a 'price worth paying' in order to stand up against Vladimir Putin. President Joe Biden has called this year’s rocketing bills 'Putin’s price hike.' Margrethe Vestager, vice president of the European Commission, has encouraged Europeans to take short, cold showers to conserve energy. 'When you turn off the water, say ‘Take that, Putin!’' she urged. But are the high prices really Putin’s fault? He didn’t sanction himself, after all. It’s the West that chose to cut itself off from the Russian fossil fuels upon which it had come to rely.
38 min listen
This week Winston speaks with actor James Dreyfus, star of Gimme Gimme Gimme, The Thin Blue Line and Notting Hill. They discuss his cancellation from Dr Who, the misogyny and homophobia of Trans Radical Activists, Stonewall, the LGB Alliance, and why he’s willing to put his neck on the line.
‘Permanent revolution’ is the on dit in Whitehall these days – and what it means is that the Truss administration U-turns so often the whole machinery of government is constantly spinning round on its axis. The latest volte-face is the decision to appoint James Bowler, a 20-year establishment veteran, as Permanent Secretary to the Treasury. The Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, declared himself ‘delighted to welcome James back to the Treasury,’ which is causing a few chuckles in SW1. The joke in Westminster today is apparently that the anti-growth coalition actually runs the Treasury It’s well-known that Kwarteng’s plan was to shake up the Treasury. Bowler represents precisely the sort of orthodox officialdom he has for years wanted to remove.
There was a truly electric moment at the Morrissey gig at the Palladium in London last night. Moz was introducing his new song, ‘Bonfire of Teenagers’. It’s about the Manchester Arena bombing in which 22 people were killed. He looked out at the audience and asked us a question. How come you know the name Myra Hindley but many of you won’t know the name of the man who bombed the Manchester Arena? People looked stunned. I believe some looked a little ashamed. It is rare indeed for hush to fall at a Morrissey concert, but it did then. It’s a question that demands an answer. Sounding a little emotional, Morrissey described the 2017 arena bombing as one of the worst things that has ever happened to Manchester, his hometown.
Who blew up the Kerch bridge? One of President Zelensky’s most senior advisers, Mikhailo Podolyak, has suggested that the Russians did it themselves. 'Isn’t it obvious who made an explosion?' he asked on Twitter. 'Truck arrived from RF (Russian Federation).' Officially, the Ukrainian government is saying nothing: its secret service has said it will remain quiet until after the war. Zelensky himself has so far refrained from commenting on the attack, except to say that the 'weather has been cloudy in Crimea.' If indeed they were responsible, why would the Ukrainians not claim responsibility for a sabotage attack of high sophistication that caused widespread jubilation in Ukraine and across the world?
When Kwasi Kwarteng sacked Tom Scholar as permanent secretary at the Treasury, it was taken as the clearest indication yet that he was determined to shake up the so-called Treasury orthodoxy. Unlike previous Tory governments, Liz Truss and her Chancellor would take on the economic consensus. Only one month in and they appear to be having second thoughts. Scholar’s hasty departure was cited as one of several factors that contributed to the markets responding badly to the Chancellor’s not-so-mini-Budget. Now the government have announced Scholar’s successor: James Bowler, currently Permanent Secretary for the Department for International Trade (DIT). Bowler can’t exactly be described as an insurgent.
Is Emmanuel Macron a friend of the United Kingdom? Liz Truss said over the summer that she didn’t know, which was a reasonable response in the circumstances. This is a president surrounded by close advisors who hold Britain in barely disguised contempt. Other than a brief pretend bromance with Boris Johnson, whom Macron promptly knifed in the back and called a clown, the president threatened to cut the electricity interconnection between France and Britain in a row over fish. His government takes millions from Britain in return for pretending to stop boatloads of migrants launching themselves across the channel. Macron has described Nato as brain dead and fantasised that its security role could be Europeanised.
Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has written to the Treasury select committee this morning, announcing that the date of his medium-term fiscal plan is moving forward by almost a month: from 23 November to 31 October. Mel Stride, the committee’s chair, tweeted the letter in full, adding that he ‘strongly welcome[s]’ the move (which, he says, he had ‘pressed so hard on’) in the hope that an earlier update will help mitigate rising borrowing costs. https://twitter.com/MelJStride/status/1579396328349585408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw It’s a rather unsurprising announcement from the Chancellor. Despite doubling down on his original November date at the Conservative party conference, no one realistically thought that timeline would last.
The Crimean Bridge bombing was an unwelcome gift to both Vladimir Putin – who had celebrated his 70th birthday the day before – and the new overall commander of the 'Special Military Operation,' General Sergei Surovikin. Today, they returned the favour with a missile bombardment of Kyiv and other major cities of the like not seen since the start of the war. Missiles and kamikaze drones hit a range of targets, some perhaps considered strategic in the loosest sense such as bridges and railway hubs, but most entirely civilian. The west of the country, which has largely avoided the worst of Russian attacks, also came in for an indiscriminate pounding.
11 min listen
This morning the Chancellor has announced that the government will bring forward both its medium term fiscal event and the accompanying Office for Budget Responsibility forecast. Will Kwarteng exercise some spending restraint to calm the Bank of England?Also on the podcast, after Truss appointed Sunak ally Greg Hands as Minister of State for Trade Policy, is she extending an olive branch to unite her party?Natasha Feroze speaks to James Forsyth and Katy Balls.Produced by Natasha Feroze and Oscar Edmondson.
It depends on when you are reading this but it’s possible that as you do, Russian missiles are still falling on Kyiv. The Ukrainian capital, and cities across the country, have been subject to a devastating missile barrage last night and this morning. The attacks on Kyiv are intended to create nothing but terror. Missiles fell in succession on civilian areas: children’s playgrounds, ordinary business areas, office buildings. They arrived at the height of the morning rush hour, hoping to kill as many commuters and families as possible, and the drumbeat has continued after that. Residential and business areas of the Ukrainian capital that had broadly been spared missile and drone attack are now targets.
As MPs prepare to return to Westminster after the conference recess, the hope in 10 Downing Street is that the House of Commons will give way to calmer scenes than those at the tumultuous Conservative party conference in Birmingham. Given the number of Tory MPs lining up to rebel on various issues that may prove wishful thinking. However, overnight there has been a move by No. 10 aimed at beginning to restore party unity. Following the sacking of Conor Burns as a trade minister on Friday over allegations of serious misconduct at party conference, his successor has been named. Step forward Greg Hands. Hands is viewed in No. 10 as a critical but supportive friend Hands's appointment is striking for a few reasons.
Quite the scoop in yesterday’s Sun. An anonymous cabinet minister has briefed the paper that to secure Britain’s economic future, we need a baby boom. The birth rate has fallen from 2.93 children per woman in 1964 to 1.58 today. We have an ageing population, and a shrinking workforce, and something must be done. 'We need to have more children,' says this minister. 'The rate keeps falling. Look at Hungary – they cut taxes for mothers who have more children.' And, indeed, they do. In Viktor Orban’s fiefdom you’re let off income tax for life if you manage to squeeze out four or more kids.
One of the problems with nationalism – of any stripe – is its uglier undercurrents. The Scottish National Party has made great strides presenting itself as civic and progressive, but it’s usually never too long before blood-and-soil arguments start to come through. So you’ll hear fairly sinister arguments about how the SNP’s opponents are not really Scottish (a point made about me quite often) or that their opponents are not just wrong but malign, even evil and detestable. Speaking ahead of her party conference, Nicola Sturgeon forgot herself. 'If the question to me is: would I prefer a Labour government over a Tory government,' she told her fellow Scot Laura Kuenssberg.
Soon after being elected Tory leader, Iain Duncan Smith summed up a test that he was soon to fail. ‘At the moment, I am a clean slate,' he said. 'It’s the next four months that count. If the wrong colours are applied to my slate, they will be there for ever. I have to be able to show in the first few months that my strengths are the dominant features, so that people will say, “That bloke looks as though he knows where he’s going.”’ William Hague, he said, never recovered from the baseball cap incidents. Early slips, he said, are fatal. Three or four months is a luxurious timetable. In an era where social media is Britain’s No. 1 source of written news, the whole process is accelerated.
Nadhim Zahawi – Blackouts ‘extremely unlikely’ but government is preparing Last week, the National Grid warned that an excess shortage of gas over the winter period could see households plunged into darkness for up to three hours at a time, as part of its contingency plans to manage electricity supply. This morning, Laura Kuenssberg was joined by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Nadhim Zahawi, to discuss the government preparations for such a scenario: https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1579041334983331841?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Nicola Sturgeon – SNP won on ‘a very clear manifesto commitment’ Kuenssberg went on to speak to Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.